“Watching both this week’s war and the world’s predictable reaction to it, we can recall the Gaza rules. Most are reflections of our postmodern age, and completely at odds with the past protocols of war.

First is the now-familiar Middle East doctrine of proportionality. Legitimate military action is strangely defined by the relative strength of the combatants. World opinion more vehemently condemns Israel’s countermeasures, apparently because its rockets are far more accurate and deadly than previous Hamas barrages that are poorly targeted and thus not so lethal.

If America had accepted such rules in, say, World War II, then by late 1944 we, not the Axis, would have been the culpable party, since by then once-aggressive German, Italian and Japanese forces were increasingly on the defensive and far less lethal than the Allies.

Second, intent in this war no longer matters. Every Hamas unguided rocket is launched in hopes of hitting an Israeli home and killing men, women and children. Every guided Israeli air-launched missile is targeted at Hamas operatives, who deliberately work in the closest vicinity to women and children.

Killing Palestinian civilians is incidental to Israeli military operations and proves counterproductive to its objectives. Blowing up Israeli non-combatants is the aim of Hamas’ barrages: the more children, aged and women who die, the more it expects political concessions from Tel Aviv.”

Victor Davis Hanson is one of those deftly articulate commentators re world views and history. He sets forth the double standards re Israel and Hamas. It does demonstrate the craziness of world opinion and the risk that way of thinking puts us via our decision makers. Obama is going to jump into this with swiftness come February or sooner. Given his past associations with Khalidi et al, it will be extremely interesting to watch world opinion and the great actor force Israel into a corner of compromise…when there should be no compromise….Hamas should be wiped out…building by building…but that will not happen will it? Of course, mishaps of friendly fire and misguided ordinance does set Israel back, but the greater issue is Hamas…frankly I am so tired of hearing about Palestinians…where are they as citizens when Hamas is lobbing thousands of rockets into Israel. Of course, they cannot say anything…wonder why?

This seminal treatise in the history of ideas demonstrates what has come to be known as the Higgs thesis: that government grows in periods of crisis, for example, war and depression. He demonstrates this with a detailed look at twentieth century economic history.

Higgs’s thesis is so compelling that it has become the dominant paradigm for understanding the so-called ratchet effect: government grows during crisis and then retrenches afterwards, but not to the same level as before.

This book is absolutely essential for anyone who seeks to understand the dynamics of government growth and the loss of liberty.

The Limbaughs and Hannities of the world are pointing and shrieking at Rahm Emanuel’s remarks about opportunity in crisis. But Emanuel is merely enunciating a conventional idea that is basic to contemporary managerial rule. If GOP talkers want to rail at someone for developing this tactic they should learn about the New Republic-type liberals who grouped around Woodrow Wilson and FDR. My favorite is Rexford Guy Tugwell, who understood the opportunity the liberal regime had squandered during World War I.

“We were on the verge of having an international industrial machine when peace broke,” wrote Tugwell. “Only the Armistice prevented a great experiment in control of production, control of prices, and control of consumption.”

Emanuel is just a little ahead of the curve. Robert Higgs should send him a thank you note for effectively distilling the Ratchet Effect in a candid little moment.

Freedom~Liberty & That Left/Right Scale

You and I are told increasingly that we have to choose between a left or right, but I would like to suggest that there is no such thing as a left or right. There is only an up or down–up to a man’s age-old dream, the ultimate in individual freedom consistent with law and order–or down to the ant heap totalitarianism, and regardless of their sincerity, their humanitarian motives, those who would trade our freedom for security have embarked on this downward course. -Ronald Regan